treten

From Middle High German trëten, from Old High German trëtan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną. Cognate with English tread.

• IPA^(key): [ˈtʰʁ̥eːtn̩], [ˈtʰʁ̥eːtən], [ˈtʰʁ̥eːʔ̩n] (Germany)

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• IPA^(key): /ˈtʁeːtɛn/, [ˈd̥ʁeː-] (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)

  • Audio:

    (file)

    (Austria)

• Hyphenation: tre‧ten

treten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present tritt, past tense trat, past participle getreten, past subjunctive träte, auxiliary haben or sein)

1. (intransitive) to step, to walk (a short distance) [auxiliary sein]

   Bitte treten Sie hierher.

   Please step over here.

2. (intransitive, figuratively) to appear [auxiliary sein]

   Als sie die Tragödie sah, traten ihr Tränen in die Augen.

   As she saw the tragedy, tears appeared in her eyes.

   • 1919, Walther Kabel, Irrende Seelen, Werner Dietsch Verlag, page 107:

     Wieder begann mein Herz jetzt in rasenden Schlägen zu klopfen, wieder fühlte ich kalten Schweiß auf meine Stirn treten.

     Again my heart started now beating with racing beats, again I felt cold sweat appear on my brow.

3. (intransitive, with certain phrases) to come into a state implied by a phrase

   in Kraft treten ― to come into effect

   an die Stelle treten ― to take the place

   in Erscheinung treten ― to appear (literally, “to come into appearance”)

   in den Hintergrund treten ― to become less important (literally, “to step into the background”)

   in den Ruhestand treten ― to retire (literally, “to come into retirement”)

   in Kontakt treten ― to get in touch (literally, “to come into contact”)

   auf den Plan treten ― to appear (literally, “to come onto the map”)

   an die Öffentlichkeit treten ― to go public (literally, “to come into the public”)

   in Aktion treten ― to become active, to take action

   zutage (zu Tage) treten ― to come to light (literally, “to come to day”)

4. (transitive) to step; to tread; to trample [auxiliary haben]

   Wasser treten ― to tread water

5. (transitive) to kick [auxiliary haben]

   Der Räuber schlug und trat sein Opfer.

   The robber beat and kicked his victim.

6. (intransitive) to step; to tread [auxiliary sein]
7. (intransitive) to step [with auf (+ accusative) ‘on(to) something’] [auxiliary sein]
8. (intransitive) to pedal [auxiliary sein]

• Treten, Treter, Tretung
• tretend, getreten
• betreten, vertreten

• “treten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “treten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “treten” in Duden online
• “treten” in OpenThesaurus.de

Inherited from Old High German trëtan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan.

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈtrɛtən/

trëten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present tritet, past tense trat, past participle getrëten, past subjunctive træte, auxiliary hān)

1. to step, to walk, to tread

• German: treten